"Ok, you can open your eyes, and....surprise!

Welcome to the Borderless Lantern exhibit. I know, 'oh my god' was my reaction too when I first visited this place. It's just so striking and breathtaking, almost too much to take in at first, which is why I'm glad I'm accompanying you.

What’s the smirk for? What, a hypnotist can can't bring their hypnosis-loving subject to a place where he can't help but show signs of how visually arresting everything in front of him and soon-to-be around him is? You act as if I've got some sort of ulterior motive going on. All I want you to do is appreciate the art in front of you. What's that? What's the difference between appreciating art and being hypnotized by it? You know, that's an excellent point you've made. Art is kind of made to be hypnotic one way or another. Artists love to have their work focused on for as long as possible, eyes taking in every last detail, even noticing things that could be interpreted and accidentally conveyed. It's like we're discovering something together.

Aw, that's sweet. Hypnosis is my art, and I love making you my canvas from time to time, heh. Only this time, if only I could take credit for such a set-up. Darkness as a sweet backdrop to what seems like hundreds of beautifully bright lanterns, thousands if you take the surrounding mirrors into account. It's like an endless sea of lights, like a sea of stars in the night's sky, the key difference being instead of little specs, these lights are big and colorful, able to inspect them, get lost in them if you really wanted to...

But let's not do that, yet. Let's walk around a bit, and take in the many angles that make this such a joy to walk through. And as we walk the exhibit, I can't help but satiate my curiosity - as a hypnosis lover, are there any parallels you can make to the lanterns and that state of mind we like so much? Hmmm, the lights as thoughts in a dimmed mind? Nice. More? The darkness as the world and the lanterns are people connecting, drawn to their illumination, like people connecting at sea? How very profound and poetic. I like both of those, and I even think they compliment each other quite well.

How do I mean? Well, per exhibit rules about touching, I won't be physically touching the lanterns to make my point. However, it's not lie I really have to. Without touching, things can get close enough to one another and affect them, so as my hand glides over lanterns, you can notice the changing color they take, just a gentle shift in hue, at a pace slow enough that keeps you interested in the full process of change to happen. And during this process, you can bring your comparison about lanterns as thoughts in a mind up.

As you know, I'm very big on changing minds, and by that extension, changing thoughts. Rarely will I ever suggest to someone in trance to set their thoughts aside or forget about them. Changing them, to me, is so much more satisfying. This thought right here for example, about timing, how much time you spent on this or that project; next to my influence, the thought changes to how much time till I can lose track of time for her. A better thought, right? It didn't have to move, be told to be forgotten, or anything, it just stayed where it was, and made you focus more on me. Like this other lantern over here. With my hand waving over it, subtly reaching out with my will across the air particles, to the thought itself about numbers. Spreadsheets filled with data and numbers stacked on numbers suddenly shifts to a number, more meaningful than the rest of them - 10.

Yeah, 10, that's right. Connecting a 1 and a 0 together suddenly make a thought of deadlines about countdowns, stressful pressure morphed into sanguine anticipation. And what comes next, you know, yet you might not know.

For example, if you think of 10, with me, you probably think 9, for some odd reason. But that word 'sanguine' sticks out so much that you may have a thought about it. And if this lantern over here was representative of it, if I were to influence it, maybe the sanguine, or defined reddish color this lantern has starts to turn a little bluish, a lovely color reflecting a changed thought.

And after 9, 8 should surely come next. But what about the thought of blue? What could that thought lead you to? Blue crayons? Blue sky? A blue ocean to swim into with cascading depths like blue eyes you could swim infinite loops into, which can be just an 8 turned on its side. Lovely blue eyes that get lovelier and brighter like lanterns representing thoughts of....what's that next number?

7, of course. 7 as an acknowledgment of blue eyes, eyes you can stare into. And sometimes words can lose their meaning for a split second, until we give them a temporarily different meaning. Does stare mean 'he stares into her eyes,' or does it mean 'he's got stairs to climb'? How could you question whether it's the second one or not. Why would you as we move forward to the next number.

6 is the next number, maybe even the next number of steps you take to get to your next lantern. And who knows how many steps reside on the stairs discussed earlier. Could they be leading you somewhere going up? Could my presence making a lantern, a thought blue, mean that the bluer it gets, the higher you climb the stairs, symbolically coming up a little from the wonderful trance you just might be feeling now? More aware of it, happy to gauge it from a lighter state. How sure are you that those steps will stay at an upward trajectory?

If it's 5 more steps to the next lantern, it could be five more steps on the stairs until something shifts, and the stairs lead down, down, down, down and down. Gravity leading you down faster than you went up, your love of trance leading down further than you rose up. Every step you take, the lantern gets bluer, and every shift toward more blue is a step further down, deeper into the trance than before, happier than before, more appreciative and suggestive than before, knowing 5 comes be...fore...

4. Maybe 4 steps to that next lantern, but as you go deeper, deeper into a sense of deeper, would 4 seem like 40 steps, would 40 words seem like 400 to your ears? Could 400 breaths seem like only 40 seconds have passed, in a count from 10 all the way down to 4? How deep is deep and the blue deepens with a wave of my hand. Does the blue or the deep keep you from the next number? If so, let me help you there.

3. The next lantern I grace, the next thought you might have, just seems to reflect upon blue, helping you to reminiscence about blue, everything you love about it. Deeper into blue, think only about blue, waves of water, cloudless skies, beautiful fashions, hypnotic eyes. The deeper you go, the more it's true, because right now, is there a hue, better than blue.

2. I seem to be rhyming a lot now. Blue is 2 and 2 is blue, the hue you'll never...misconstrue? Yeah, better to stick to simple rhymes, to help you enjoy simpler times, as you slip deeper into...

1. One more lantern, and one rhymes with done. Because I think you're done think right now, for yourself anyway. Right about now, your thoughts sound like they're dubbed in my voice, and things seem to be going that way, so you might enjoy when I say 'a subject's waking trance,' and, that's right. You can blink your eyes, take a nice deep breath, and look completely awake as you smile at me unbidden to tell me you're really still deep in trance, yet looking aware, and ever suggestible to the sound of my voice.

That's so nice, I love how easily you do that for me. It took a while to perfect that state for you, but it surely paid off, as you quietly listen to me and walk beside me to enjoy more lanterns and more of the exhibit. If all these are thoughts, the number of controlled thoughts it took to get you into the state you're in was pretty significant, surely most, if not all of them. So I think now is a good time for you to think of the other way you saw the lanterns, not as mere thoughts, but as people.

Each lantern now represents a whole person, making up societies and civilizations, made up by individuals. Many act as a collective, others are pretty unique. You can see this one next to me, this special one, one that turns all blue as I hold my hand under it, not even touching but still supporting it. Do me a favor and take a quick photo of me and my lantern. Great, that's a keeper. Now go ahead and take a mental picture for me. Blink a few times, like the shuttering of an expensive camera. Good, let that captured moment be saved in your memory banks, and become your screen saver, your mind's wallpaper for the foreseeable future.

Whom do you think this lantern represents? It must be some pretty amazing, to be a collective of thoughts that turn totally blue if I linger close. Wouldn't that feel amazing? To stand out as an individual so much his own man, his own goals, hopes and dreams so different from everyone else, so much of himself and his goals, hopes, and dreams shaped by and in the hands of the woman he trusts implicitly. Not a trace of resistance, but certainly silent, smiling acceptance. Just look how blue you are for me, how transformed and conditioned to being mine and loving it. I touch all of your thoughts, make your thoughts all about be, and you're all blue for me.

Look around us amongst the sea of other familiar lanterns and people, and look at how you stand out so wonderfully, so brilliantly, like a beacon. Yes, a shining example of deep, deep entrancement, ever supported by your hypnotist, always waiting, can't wait for whatever command I give you and whatever I want you to be. And if I were to give you a command of being 'a subject's standing trance,' you'll find this so easy to achieve. Your muscle memory does most of the work now, softly but firmly keeping your feet solid and supportive of your body, your posture strong, but calm and relaxed, your back straight, letting your arms sag a little, your shoulders back, your head falling gently forward, your chin almost touching your chest, the clearest sign of 'a subject's standing trance.' I so enjoy seeing you like this, taking a small mental nap, resting on my soft, cushioning words. A quick little bout of fun, before bring out of you 'a subject's obedient trance,' and tell your body to remain as is, but let your head come up to focus totally one me.

You look so peaceful, daydreaming dreams of my making. I feel like daydreaming too for a moment. The deeper I look into this, and thinking about what I've done to you today, the more I want to expand on your lantern comparisons. They could be thoughts of an individual, and they could be individuals among clusters of other individuals that make up a world of people, but in my pursuit of being an amazing hypnotist, I think the lanterns can be whole worlds too. You always said that everyone should obey me because it feels so good to. If I took that ego boost literally, one by one, one thought at a time, one person at a time, until all thoughts and people reach a shade of blue that is all mine. So many worlds out there, mostly having no signs of life or no conditions to live there. My world though, my blue little earth, is filled with signs and conditionings of living life as I ascribe, in peace and hypnotic happiness, having made it mine, just like I made you mine. How exciting does that sound? How much deeper did my daydream take your daydream? Close your mouth and swallow for me; should've noticed the glassy eyes leading to near drooling again.

I'm sorry, got a little carried away. Ok, a lot carried away, but once you become 'a subject wide awake,' you can tell me all about how being carried away by me felt.

Amazing? The exhibit or me? Good answer, and I like that the exhibit is good enough to be a close second. Honestly I kind of meant to do the trance gradually, but my mind started racing to the possibilities, I started talking...yeah, you were definitely in the passenger's seat too, just where I like you. I hope I didn't spoil Borderless already for you? No? Good, we'll enjoy more trance stuff later. No, you should really enjoy this place with all your thoughts intact, and I know it looks like a place where trance is supposed to happen but...wait, why do you think they call it Borderless? 'No borders or barriers between people and their minds'? Implying by now that you can't tell where I end and you begin. You say the sweetest things, you know that?

What? You want to kiss my hand to thank me? I'd like that too, but the exhibit signs says 'no touching the lanterns,' so...don't get the joke yet? Remember some of the trance. Right, my little blue lantern, no touching while we're here. But go ahead and smile anyway, we both know you feel my touch regardless, and let it remind you that your thoughts, your world, all of what makes you you, and blue, is mine.